


Gestural

by runicmagitek



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Artist Ellie, Drawing, F/F, Pining, Post-TLOU, Pre-Relationship, Treat, Triple Drabble, pre-TLOU2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25364791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/pseuds/runicmagitek
Summary: She drew buildings and mountains, flowers and trees, animals and people. Most didn’t question Ellie when she glanced in their direction and swept ink across her notebook.And then there washer.Ellie adjusts to her new life in Jackson, rediscovers her doodling antics, and discovers a muse she can't stop drawing.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: Multifandom Drabble 2020





	Gestural

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/gifts).



It started as a distraction: scribbling between the margins while teachers droned. Nothing formed in those mindless scrawls; a single, chaotic line followed her pencil. It wasn’t art, let alone a doodle. Ellie’s teachers said otherwise, snapping her pencils and demanding detention for her misbehavior. How was she to pay attention without it?

The journey westward offered no time for idle luxuries, but settling in Jackson left Ellie with more free time than she knew what to do with. She scribbled on crumbled napkins, in the corner of her wall by her bed, over pages of books she never cared to read. When she covered every imaginable surface—which somehow was accomplished in a week, according to Ellie—Joel gifted her with a water-stained notebook. The sight made her flinch, yet she accepted.

With no dull lectures, she found herself looking for a subject, something to fuel her scribbles. She didn’t expect the chaos to untangle. She lifted her pen, lightened her pressure, and illustrated her surroundings.

She drew buildings and mountains, flowers and trees, animals and people. Most didn’t question Ellie when she glanced in their direction and swept ink across her notebook.

And then there was _her_.

“Hey, what are you drawing?”

The question burned Ellie’s cheeks as she approached. Ellie slammed the notebook shut. “N-nothing.”

She tilted her head and pouted. “Didn’t look like nothing.”

Ellie swallowed hard. “It’s just doodles. That’s all.”

“Alright. If you say so.”

It wasn’t until she walked away that Ellie opened the notebook again. It wasn’t until midnight that her heart stopped racing. It wasn’t until she filled the entire notebook and memorized the curve of her eyebrows, the loose tufts of her black hair, and the placement of all her freckles that Ellie came to know her muse as Dina.


End file.
